A Collector's long weekend.

[SkyMan]

Next week on the 18th is a BIG birthday for me (and I am now OFFICIALLY divorced) so I decided to splurge this week. I was at the Santa Clara show on thursday and today (saturday). I missed friday because the main items that I was interested in this week were items from a Space auction at Goldberg's. Some of those items that I purchased can be found in this thread:

 

Space Items

 

 

Santa Clara seemed rather sleepy on thursday. I ran into a couple of people from these boards, my coin club, or people ATS, but not as many as usual. There were also fewer dealers there than normally. I was mainly looking for toned Franklins or 1858 material. There was zippo in the way of nice looking toned Frankies around, and in general the 1858 material was dipped to that bright silver look, which is NOT how 150 old material should look. I did find an 1858 dime in PCGS MS64 that was nice looking. Of course, unfortunately, it had been dipped in the past, but at least it had retoned fairly nicely. The strike was good and IMO the coin was a solid 64 so I got it. I also did some scouting for type material. Decent type material was available, but normally at a very steep price for the grade.

 

There were several really cool coins to look at on the bourse. The "Show" coins were the highest graded set of Pan-Pac Commems. I particularly liked the $2.50 coin which was graded MS67. On the bourse itself there was a PR69 High Relief wire edge Saint, and one that I enjoyed holding in my sweaty little palms was a PR67UCAM 1895 Morgan.

 

There were two coins that I was interested in at the Superior auction on thursday night. The first was a PCGS PR66RB 1882 IHC that had lovely toning (and was solid for the grade), and the second was an OK toned 1951-S Franklin in PCGS MS66 at the lower end of the 66 scale. The auction, at least "on the floor", was pretty well attended, and the decent coins seemed to bring strong prices (although there was a lot of dreck in the auction). The opening bid on the IHC was what would have been my high bid so I was knocked out there at the get-go. I did manage to get the '51-S at a reasonable price, which was nice as that is one of the holes still in my set. It will be a coin that I eventually want to upgrade, but, as mentioned, it is OK.

 

On friday the space auction occured, and one thing that was odd was that most of the items that I bid on either went for WAY over estimate and I didn't get them, or they went for the low end of estimate, or BELOW the low end of estimate and I got them for "cheap". There was only one item that I bid rather high over estimate (on a % basis) that I won. The other items I won I got easily. The end result was that I spent a LOT less on the auction than I had budgeted for. Of course, being a collector, that meant going to Santa Clara today with what I thought was "free money" in my pocket, which as we all know is a dangerous situation.

 

There seemed to be more people circulating around the bourse this saturday than the last few saturdays I had been at Santa Clara, but I got the feeling there was a fair amount of tire kicking going on.

 

After perusing the bourse for type material for my type set there was one dealer with some nice original looking material that I decided to do business with. As mentioned, the prices for original, properly graded material were very steep compared to the gray sheet. I was mainly looking at 1800 -1850 copper, although the dealer also had a nice original no stars 1837 1/2 dime in PCGS MS64 (OGH). I was pretty shocked by the prices he was quoting as his bottom line on some of the coins, but in general there was no question the coins were the real deal grade/skin/look wise.

 

I ended up buying an 1851 1/2 cent in NGC MS64BN and a PCGS MS65RB (Rattler) 1855 Large Cent. I'm not an early copper kind of a guy, and one thing that surprised me, was seeing the stars on the obverse of the 1/2 cent all showing a nice strike and yet there was a little bit of softness on one pair of leaves on the reverse just under OF. The 1855 LC is gorgeous. IMO it should 66. It was priced accordingly.

 

After striking our deal, the dealer and I yacked for a bit, and then he pulled out from storage a couple of "Looker" coins he had just bought in the last hour. One was a PCGS PR65CAM 1893 Liberty nickel, and the other was a raw 1875 Seated Liberty dime. My maternal grandmother was born in 1893, and I have a nice cameo Morgan proof of that year, so I have been wanting to get some nice cameo 1893 material to build a set for some time. This Lib nickel really POPS, so I snapped it up. FWIW adding this coin to my NGC registry set will make it the number one set (out of a whopping five sets).

 

I am not a Seated Liberty dime kind of a guy, but the raw 1875 dime that he pulled out just blew me away. It had HOLY SH_T!!! kind of toning. Technically I'd grade it probably a 63 as it has a fairly long thin scratch under Liberty's elbow, but it looks a LOT better than the technical grade. I'm pretty jaded with nice toning, but this one is mind melting both obverse and reverse. I paid stupid money for it, but it's a coin I'm going to enjoy having/showing for (the good Lord willing) a long time.

 

So, it was a fun long weekend. Now I get to go scrub the toilet.

 

Have a good Sunday folks!

[Elbesaar]

Skyman - That's a great Show Report !

 

Show us the images once you've taken them. The 1893 V Nickel in CAM sounds

really nice. I hope the thin scratch at the elbow of the dime doesn't keep it out of

a holder. The toning sounds like it was in an album for many years - and I bet by

your description - its a joy to behold. Two nice pick ups. I'll go on to SGBH's web site

to look at the 1951-S Half - as I don't really collect MS Franklins [ just Proof Cameo's] -

I'm not in any position to give a clear judgement on them.

 

I also don't collect - but appreciate early coppers - and the two you bought sound

like great coins...also look forward to those images as well.

 

You had a great day for yourself - didn't you !! ?? My sojurn to a local FT Myers, FL

coin show yeaterday was a complete bust. Low end - cleaned - scratched Barbers - or over-dipped MS common dated material. Very disappointing to say the least.

 

The highlight of the show was a collectors custom made folding display cabinet housing his collection of Morgan Dollars...

 

...and he had some great coins in it - an 1893-S in AU 50 - an 1893-CC in 64 - an 1895 Proof 63 - and a number of very nice attractive MS + PR coins [ most of which I know ziltch about as I don't collect Morgans either ] and a decent MS 63 of 1901-P - which I know is a condition rarity.

 

Between the two of us - you definetly had the better day.

[kryptonitecomics]

I loved the read....but am dissapointed no pictures.......you sir are a numismatic tease

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harvey8542]

Great read now lets see the pic's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[physics-fan3.14]

Indeed, we must have pictures! Sounds like you had a good time though, and I enjoyed the report.

[IGWT]

Nice report!

[EZ_E]

Skyman - That's a great Show Report !

 

 

(thumbs u

 

the dealer also had a nice original no stars 1837 1/2 dime in PCGS MS64 (OGH).

 

[SkyMan]

Thanks guys! It was fun to write about it.

 

ES, as you well know, that's the thing about local shows. Most times they don't have anything of interest, but every now and then you luck into a really nice piece. That Morgan collection sounds like it was fun though.

 

As to pics, I'll see if Bob is interested in imaging any of the coins. If he is, I'll ship them out to him this week.

[Dcoin]

Coin show reports never really get old in my book! Thanks Sy.